Rise and Fall
by ravensbomb
Summary: Asami faces the epitome of bender tyranny. Too bad Korra's smile is enough to floor her. (An Equalist Asami one shot)
**Pro-Bending Round 4, Prompt =** **Hearts** \- represent love and affection. Write about someone falling in love with someone they're supposed to hate.

Asami knew it would come to this eventually. The ideological battle for the people of Republic City was about much more than winning hearts and minds, since some were so far gone that they could never be saved. If Amon's vision of an equal city was ever to come to fruition, then those people would be the first to go. All Asami could hope when this movement began was that it wouldn't be her hand's that would be getting bloody, though getting her hands dirty wouldn't stop her either.

Until now.

The Avatar stood across from her, all muscle and fury as she marched forward with clenched fists. It had been a careless mistake, taking on a daylight reconnaissance mission for Amon in the Dragon Flats borough of the city, making detailed notes of the hourly movements of Tarrlok's task force as they went from house to house, trying to eradicate any possible equalist roots before they were able to bloom. But then, Asami really hadn't expected Korra to show up. She'd left the task force weeks ago, and not on the best terms either. So why was she here?

"It's best you don't struggle," Korra warned coldly as she kept two pieces of earth locked around her prisoner's hands, pinning them to the ground. Asami's remained intact, though it was only a matter of time before the Avatar decided to remove it, or one of the police officers she'd no doubt called did the same. Then the terrible but necessary truth wouldn't be out in the open. "The police will be here soon enough, they'll decide what to do with you. 'Till then you've got me for company." She screwed up her face in the most adorable way and Asami's heart lurched. She hated that Korra was able to do that to her. _It's funny how things turn out the way they do._ "Which...I guess is probably the worst company you terrorists could have...me being the Avatar."

It was pretty clear that's who Korra was without her declaring it, having just bent more than one element in their fraught confrontation a few minutes ago which Asami had desperately tried to flee from. She probably would've escaped too, if she hadn't been so reluctant to hurt Korra or give her comrades a chance to escape. It pained her to think she'd do much the same for Mako and Bolin if it came down to it, and she hadn't fallen in love with either of them like the girl in front of her. _I'm going soft._

" _Equalists_ ," Asami corrected before wishing she hadn't said anything.

Korra stopped her approach in the middle of the street with a raised brow, now just a few meters from the masked woman crouched down in front of her. "You're a girl?" She waved her hands quickly. "I didn't mean that in a bad way, it's just surprising is all. Most of Amon's guys are...well...guys..."

Asami couldn't deny that. Men tended to be much more easily persuaded to join their revolution. Women required more convincing, though they tended to be the best comrades on a team, able to keep themselves restrained when things got intense, to not try and be the hero.

The exact opposite of this teenager in front of her. _And it only made you fall for her harder...you idiot..._

"You don't talk much..." Korra commented as she crouched down. "Did I hit you harder than I meant to?"

Asami shook her head. Even Korra's lightest punches would probably send someone spinning.

"That low kick you used on me...I swear I've seen it before..." Korra noted with a frown. Asami hadn't been thinking when she'd done that earlier, but Korra had came so close to ripping her mask off she'd had no choice but to knock the Avatar to the floor. And of course, if Korra gave it a little more thought, she'd probably remember her supposed best friend having used that exact same technique to send her crashing to the ground during an intense sparring session.

"It's a very common fighting style among non-benders," Asami defended quickly when Korra took a step forward.

Korra stopped again. "Yeah, you're probably right. Gotta say that mask you guys wear makes everything you say sound really weird and sinister. I bet if you ordered food in it, the owner would kick you out the store for sounding so down right creepy."

Asami couldn't help but smirk under the cloth of the mask. Her voice obviously sounded different enough under here that Korra didn't recognise her. Maybe she would be able to get out of here without being unmasked after all. She rotated her wrists slightly. The earth around them was not as rigid as before. Korra was obviously not concentrating as much as she had been to begin with, but her guard would need to be brought down even more if Asami was to be successful in breaking free entirely.

"Do you know what Tarrlok does with suspected equalists once he captures them?"

Korra held her gaze with wide eyes. "He's questions them, just like you'd do with anyone you suspected of carrying out a crime. That's the same treatment non-benders and benders get." Why did Korra have to be so damn naïve? Asami blamed the White Lotus for that. The way they'd sheltered Korra for her whole life. How could she possibly understand the inequalities of the world living like that? The utter corruption of it?

"He tortures them. The non-benders he captures. Even the innocent ones. Every nonbender is guilty in the eyes of the city council."

Korra glared at her and waved her hands, loosening the earth shackles just a little bit more. "That's not true, your leader is lying to you. There's plenty of nonbenders who don't support Amon and your _revolutionaries_ for one second. My best friend lost both her parents to a firebender, but you don't see her whining about it and rounding up benders to take away what they were born with."

Asami felt her heart ache at those words. Was that why Korra wouldn't even consider Amon's viewpoint? Because she believed that her friend didn't support the cause either, even though she had every right to.

"Well then she's just as naïve as you," Asami replied coldly, glancing down briefly to check she still had some smoke grenades left over. This Avatar couldn't airbend yet, so she wouldn't have any hope of clearing the air quickly and following Asami into the narrow and bustling streets of the Dragon Flats.

Korra leaned forward. "She's nothing like me. She's smart. Smartest person I know..." The Avatar seemed to lose her place for a few seconds before continuing. "If she thinks that Amon's movement is bad news then that's exactly what it is."

 _Yes. So smart that she managed to get herself captured in the middle of the day._

"Intelligence can be just as blinding as power," Asami stated firmly before wrenching her gloved hands upwards with all her strength, shattering the shackles of earth which had held her down. Korra's bright blue eyes widened in surprise, about to swing a fist forward. She was caught off guard in this case as Asami smacked a boot into stomach, sending the Avatar back a few meters into the concrete.

By the time Korra had scrambled upwards Asami had already launched all of her remaining smoke grenades, filling the street in a grey haze as sirens shrieked in the distance. The Avatar's back up had arrived far too late and Asami was gone, slipping into an alleyway and out of sight. She didn't slow her pace for a second.

"I'll find you!" she heard Korra roar from behind, sending a icy chill through her blood as she ran.

The Avatar probably would. There was no stopping that collision course. Whether it ended in Asami being unmasked or Korra losing her bending, that day would most certainly come.

 _Just hopefully not in the near future._

 **Points Breakdown:**

 **-Easy -** "It 's funny how things turn out the way they do"

- **Medium** \- Location (Republic City)

- **Hard** \- Genre (Angst)

 **Bonus - Include your element. (Earth)**


End file.
